An archive site from Prof. Bolton's daily read of the New York Times, the Washington Post, and sundry other sources. All of [My Comments] are bracketed as shown, typically further delimited by [****], bracketed asterisks. Comments are for my students in international politics, U.S. foreign policy, and U.S. national-security policy.

Toss out the all-volunteer military

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/its-time-to-toss-the-all-volunteer-military/2012/04/19/gIQAwFV3TT_story.html
Toss out the all-volunteer military
By Thomas E. Ricks, Published: April 19 [oped] [columnist] [Ricks is pretty famous military historian, author of books on military, and has incredible contacts inside the Pentagon] [(I think his father too?)] [I’m somewhat stunned to see him come out against the all-volunteer military?] [an important piece] [watch for responses] [use psci 355-455] [*]
Since the end of the military draft in 1973, every person joining the U.S. armed forces has done so because he or she asked to be there. Over the past decade, this all-volunteer force has been put to the test and has succeeded, fighting two sustained foreign wars with troops standing up to multiple combat deployments and extreme stress.
This is precisely the reason it is time to get rid of the all-volunteer force. It has been too successful. Our relatively small and highly adept military has made it all too easy for our nation to go to war — and to ignore the consequences. [it has certainly become easy to go to war] [I guess I would attribute it to many factors, not just the all-volunteer military?] [*]
The drawbacks of the all-volunteer force are not military, but political and ethical. One